Special Series - Smuggling
News > 2012 > Special Series-Smuggling
Bootlegging, Square Groupers, The Cocaine Smugglers, Human Trafficking |
| INTRO | CHAPTER 1 | CHAPTER 2 | CHAPTER 3 | CHAPTER 4 |
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| Introduction The War on Drugs |
Early Smuggling Fueling a state's beginning: guns, powder and labor |
Bootlegging Risking it all for the hooch |
The Cocaine Smugglers Makes Miami Vice seem like Mayberry |
Modern Smuggling The evolution of a vocation |
Florida: A Red State with the Smuggler's Blues
by Rob Phillips April 2012
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| Crew of CG41493 off loading marijuana bails onto
Station Islamorada dock. This type of activity was a common occurrence throughout the 1980's. Source: http://www.uscg.mil/d7/staIslamorada/about.asp |
Tarpon, Snook, Bonefish, Cobia, Snapper ? these names are all synonymous with coastal Florida fishing at its finest and their names represent tranquil early morning fishing expeditions and hundreds of directed angling dollars just in the quest of facilitating a chance encounter with our baited lines.
At one time not long ago, another species inhabited Florida waters at a rate that surpassed any fishery scientist?s dreams. This elusive species was known as The Square Grouper. This species was not the average fish though ? this particular creature was wrapped in burlap, wound with hemp rope and was thrust upon its watery domain from the cargo hold of a low flying aircraft or tossed overboard by a high speed vessel; usually with a heavily armed government entity in hot pursuit. Some of these Square Groupers were recovered, some of them were not. Those that remained in the watery expanse of Florida?s coastline were known to eventually wash up on shore and when subject to a curious angler?s fillet knife, revealed an internal make-up not of bone and flesh, but pure Columbian Marijuana.
As Florida is known for many unusual firsts from manned rocket launches to cities built around a cartoon mouse, smuggling methods of all types were conceived and perfected in and around our picturesque waterways. From Bootlegging of Prohibition whiskey in the early 1900?s and the reckless Cocaine Smugglers of the 70?s and 80?s to today?s Human Trafficking, smuggling continues to be a vocation that is always hiring.
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| Inventory of drugs, money, guns and other seized contraband. http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/2681 |
What's with the Title of this series?
"FLORIDA: A Red State with the Smuggler's Blues" hints at the political climate in Florida and references the 1984 Glenn Fry hit song "Smuggler's Blues" featured on the TV show Miami Vice.
